The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement of probate or letters of administration for establishing rights under a will, as per the provisions of S.213 of the Indian Succession Act.

1. As per the order of the Land Tribunal, the applicant revision-petitioner who is admittedly a kudikidappukaran is found entitled to purchase 5 cents of land where the kudikidappu is situate, by virtue of the provisions of subsection (4) of S.80-A of the Kerala Land Reforms Act. This decision of the Land Tribunal is confirmed by the Appellate Authority, Land Reforms, and the applicant has come up in revision before this Court claiming that he is entitled to assignment of 10 cents of land instead of the S cents allowed by the statutory tribunals below.

2. The revision-petitioner was allowed to purchase only 5 cents on the finding that the respondent land-owner holds only less than 1 acre of land and there are two kudikidappukars in the land held by her.

3. It is not in dispute that her late husband Francis was in possession of 10.76 acres of land. Francis died in 1963. If be had died intestate, the respondent along with her two sons inherits the property left behind by her husband Francis and if her share in the total extent of land left behind by Francis is also taken into account, the respondent holds more than 1 acre of land and the kudikidappukaran will be entitled to purchase 10 cents of land instead of the 5 cents ordered by the courts below. In support of her plea, that she holds only less than 1 acre of land, the respondent produced an unregistered will dated 10-8-1961 said to have been executed by late Francis bequeathing his properties to his two sons and to the exclusion of his wife the respondent. The Will was accepted by the Land Tribunal and the Appellate Authority as true and genuine and since the respondent does not inherit the estate of her deceased husband, it was held that she holds only less than 1 acre of land and hence she is entitled to rely upon sub-section (4) of S.80-A to contend that both the kudikidappukars together are entitled to only 10 cents of land. The applicant was therefore found entitled only to 5 cents under, S.80-A of the Act.

4. The learned Counsel for the revision-petitioner submits that the unregistered Will produced by the respondent cannot be relied on for the reason of the bar under S.213 of the Indian Succession Act. As per this Section no right as executor or legatee can be established in any court of justice unless a court of competent jurisdiction has granted a probate of the Will under which the right is claimed or has granted letters of administration with the Will or an authenticated copy of the Will annexed thereto. According to the learned Counsel for the respondent, the bar under S.213 is only against an executor or legatee claiming rights under a Will in respect of which no probate or letters of administration had been granted; and S.213 does not apply where no such right as executor or legatee is claimed by a party to the proceedings. In the present case, the Will is relied upon to show that the respondent landowner does not derive title to the estate left behind by her husband late Francis, and the total extent of the 10.76 acres of land that belonged to Francis is the subject of bequest in favour of his two sons and the respondent derived no title to the same. It is to prove this fact that the will has been produced and relied upon and in those circumstances, according to the learned Counsel, there is no bar against the admission of the Will in evidence under S 213 of the Indian Succession Act,

5. The Supreme Court in the decision in Mrs. Hem Nolini Judah v. Mrs. Isolyne Sarojbashini Bose and Others (AIR. 1962 SC. 1471) stated thus at page 1475:

"The words of S.213 are not restricted only to those cases where the claim is made by a person directly claiming as a legatee. The section does not say that no person can claim as a legatee or as an executor unless he obtains probate or letters of administration of the will under which he claims. What it says is that no right as an executor or legatee can be established in any Court of justice, unless probate or letters